"Hornets" nickname will officially be free agent on Thursday

CHARLOTTE – Could Charlotte reclaim the “Hornets” nickname that has been associated with the area since the Revolutionary War?

On Thursday afternoon, the name will officially become a free agent for NBA teams when the New Orleans Hornets are officially renamed the New Orleans Pelicans.

That franchise left Charlotte for New Orleans after 14 seasons in 2002 following a messy public dispute between Hornets fans, city officials and former Hornets owners George Shinn and Ray Wooldridge.

Charlotte quickly rejoined the NBA in the 2004-05 season named the Bobcats after former BET owner Bob Johnson was granted an expansion franchise by the league.

But, whether it was Johnson’s ownership group – whose majority stake was bought by legendary basketball star Michael Jordan in March 2010 – or the team’s struggling fortunes, local fans have never embraced the Bobcats in the way they did the Hornets.

In recent years, fan groups like “Bring Back The Buzz” have come to Bobcats games wearing T-shirts or chanting for the “Hornets” name to return to Charlotte.

Just last Saturday night, a section of fans at Time Warner Cable Arena chanted “Charlotte Hornets” during a 97-93 loss to the Sacramento Kings.

Jordan has frequently stated in the last couple of years he would be open to looking into the possibility of changing his franchise’s name from “Bobcats” to “Hornets.”

The Bobcats have hired Harris interactive to send out surveys to the team’s season ticket-holders to poll them on their opinion about a potential name change.

Whatever the poll shows or the team decides, it would seem unlikely the team could change names until the 2014-15 season at the earliest due to NBA licensing agreements.

Why all the support for the “Hornets” nickname?

It’s history as well as a romantic vision of the city’s first NBA franchise.

The nickname’s actual roots date to the Revolutionary War – or when British commander Lord Cornwallis referred to Charlotte “as a veritable nest of Hornets.”

In the years since, three professional sports teams have used the “Hornets” nickname.

From 1892 through 1972, Charlotte minor league baseball teams that won 11 titles in the South Atlantic, Virginia-Carolina, North Carolina State, Carolina, Piedmont, Tri-State and Southern leagues used the nickname.

In 1974, the nickname was used again when the old World Football League (WFL) played at Charlotte’s Memorial Stadium for parts of two seasons.

And from 1988 through their move to New Orleans, the NBA’s “Hornets” endeared themselves to the region by leading the league in attendance for seven straight seasons and by selling out 364 consecutive games. The region’s show of support was cited by NFL officials in 1992 when they granted the Jerry Richardson the Carolina Panthers franchise.

Richard Walker: 704-869-1841; twitter.com/JRWalk22

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